down time!

Hello lovelies! As you know, its christmas break for all of us in higher education.  As such I have had time to do some fun things (and study for the NCE... blah).  Anyway, I just wanted to share something I'd been working on.  I made a cute photo edit from some pictures that were on my macbook.  I wanted to delete them, but I wanted to use them for something first.  Anyway, I made a little collage with these pictures of my favorite things.  I am using it for the background on my iPad, macbook, and the header on my Facebook page (if it will fit... haven't tried yet.  I like doing creative kinda things on the rare occasion that I have free time! Its so nice to have a little r&r before my last semester as a graduate student.  Anyway, I included my collage below.

Oh, and since I have some time on my hands, if anyone wants a header I'd be happy to make you one.  You can either send me the pics, or a list/idea of what you want on it :)

xoxo

mini update

I mentioned that I blog to some colleagues today... as such I thought I should update it at least once before I give them the address.  Christmas break starts after classes tomorrow though, so hopefully I will have time to go more in depth (and maybe redo my formatting too! YAY!)

Anyway, a few times over the last couple of weeks I've talked about art with people around me.  As I've mentioned before in blog posts I am a huge fan of art journaling.  I'm hoping to make a tutorial post over break about how/what I do and why I find it to be therapeutic.  If anyone in my small but steady stream of readers has questions or suggestions or thoughts about scrapbooking/art journaling I'd move to hear them. Comment them or email me!

This is a picture of my bulletin board in the office area at my apartment.  I've been doing a lot of art based on lyrics lately.  I think its really fun to interpret my favorite songs on a piece of paper.  It helps me hear the metaphors in a song in a new way. As you can see these (which are mostly works in progress) are from Beatles songs.  So if you have a suggestion for great lyrics definitely leave them for me.

I've also gotten really into taking regular drawings and copying them and adding to them.  I like taking sketches from nature and adding some comic book kinds of doodles to them.  I think the juxtaposition between a natural element (plants, waterfalls, feathers) and words or really modern looking doodles (chevron, paisley, polka dots) together.  I feel like these kinds of pictures represent my personality really well. Plus I can put something I'm good at (the doodle and designs part) into an already drawn natural sketch.  Thats really fun.

Ok.  Done with my mini update.  Hopfully there will be lots during December!

Halloweeeeen!

As most who know me are aware I'm not a big fan of children.  As such, holidays aren't my favorite since they center around kids and cause them to be overly annoying. Anyway, while I work hard to avoid the droves of masked, sticky fingered little monsters running around my neighborhood I thought I'd switch things up on my blog and have a holiday themed post.  And now, in honor of halloween I present a list (I love lists!) Of my all time favorite Halloween themed TV (I love tv too!) episodes! Enjoy!


5. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia "Who got Dee pregnant?"



A classic whodunit... Differing points of view... Sweet Dee knocked up... a live ostrich.  Whats not to love???

4. Supernatural "Its a Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester"



Its Supernatural, so obviously they know how to do scary.  Add in Sam being brilliant and Dean kicking ass and it had to be a favorite!

3. The Big Bang Theory "The Middle Earth Paradigm"



Ok, she's drunk.  Still, its Leonard and Penny's first kiss... an awesome moment!

2. How I Met Your Mother "Slutty Pumpkin"



Everyone spent seasons wondering who the slutty pumpkin was... brilliant.  Having the slutty pumpkin turn out to be Katie Holmes... even better!

1. Friends "The One With the Halloween Party"



"No... SPACE doody!" Best show ever, so obviously it had to be my number one choice!


Ok, Comment and tell me your favorite halloween episodes! Happy Halloween!

xoxo

Themes

In counseling we talk a lot about themes. Sessions and sessions go by and themes start to emerge. In counseling we refer to these kinds of things as schemas. A person has patterns in behavior and thought and insight into those really helps make changes.

Sometimes we see themes in life too. I have been seeing lots of things lately in my life that all fall into line... Here's some of what I've been seeing lately...

From a book...

                                             

from a TV show...

and in my own life... (Taken from a journal entry written for my hospital internship)

"This place is really a sort of microcosm for the world at large.Things never slow down, but once in a while I find solace in small places and spaces of time. My moments of solitude are even more precious here as I see people hurry past me. The fluster serves to highlight my own stillness and I find myself wondering as I sit here why I don't look for that in life outside the hospital walls. I'm often times in such a hurry. Sometimes you have to hurry, especially here at the hospital. But the more I watch people rush, the more I see that there are some things you simply can't rush through. You can't rush through emotion. Boy do I want to sometimes. You can't rush sadness.You sometimes have to sit there in it. Let it envelope you. Even though it doesn't feel good. I've been looking for the words to put to that for weeks now. And as I sit here it has finally come together in a few sentences that make a little sense. I was reading a book the other day and a line jumped out and bit me, attached itself to me... "That's the thing about sadness, pain. It just demands to be felt" . I couldn't say why those words clung to me so tightly until right now, but I see it now. The more you deny pain the right to be felt the greater the demand becomes until there's nothing you can do about it.
Through the semester so far I've found that my work here isn't what I thought it would be. I expected to work with or on behalf of patients here, but I am seeing that the bulk of my work here is on myself. I think that this program at winthrop has been easier for me in a lot of ways than it has for other students. I have a really easy time with the academic side of things. I've always made really good grades, and almost any subject I can grasp fairly easily. I don't say that to sound arrogant, but because it demonstrates how this year is a new experience for me. I've always been able to skate by. I could not crack a book all semester and still end up with Bs in all my classes. But this...This work that I'm doing now, this work on myself...There's no short cut. There's no way to handle this overwhelming sadness except to feel it, so sit in it, to embrace it. Because to choose not to feel it, to push it away is to deny the significance of someone or something in my life..."

People say that things come in threes... and maybe that's true.  Stop and look around.  When things seem to be repeating maybe its because there's a lesson waiting to be learned.

xoxo

Boundaries

Insomnia has struck once more.  Grey's Anatomy is keeping me company thanks to Netflix. Love this quote from the show and wanted to share...

LOVE this, love you. 

organizing!

OMG!  I'm posting.  What in the world is going on?!  I know, I know... I'm not even going to say that my posts will be more regular because I never meet my goals where blogging is concerned.

Anyway, as you already know if we are real life friends (or if you read my blog regularly) I am a super organized person.  I've just found that if I keep everything together I have a much better day! I was telling a colleague today at the hospital where I intern that I spend a few minutes at the start of my day getting ready and organizing.  I use my iCal, Evernote, and a great app for lists called Wunderlist.  I also have a Moleskine planner like this one...

I also LOVE Moleskine squared cashiers notebooks... They are great for lists, doodles, journaling, and keeping track of ideas. 

Another thing I use is a daily planning page. I first saw some on Pinterest and loved the idea.  Anyway, I took some time and made my own page.  I start filling it out when I get up in the morning.  I print a week's worth on Sunday night and keep them in my notebook.  Then I add to them during the week. I include my top 5 things to accomplish that day, meetings, how much water I need to drink, inspirational quotes, something I'm thankful for, plus other odds and ends. Several people have asked for a copy of my daily planning page, so I thought I'd post it here.  Many people charge for this kinda stuff, but I don't think thats necessary.  I do ask though that if you pass it along to someone else, refer them back to my blog or pinterest page so I can get some traffic and credit!  

Thanks!  Enjoy your more organized life!

know yourself.

Hello dearies! Hope this new week is treating you well.

I've had a few conversations in the last couple days that have led me to this blog post.

One of those conversations was with a friend.  We were talking about clothes and she asked how I go about picking things out and putting them together.  When I go into a store I generally know what kinds of things I'm looking for and can pass by everything else.

The next conversation was with someone at the school where I do my internship.  Someone made a comment basically saying that she wasn't sure how I was able to get my schoolwork done, attend classes, keep up with my internships, work, maintain a home, and still have time to sleep and such.

The third conversation was with one of my best friends.  We were talking about going to counseling.  I told her that going to counseling really helped me get into touch with a lot of things in my life and helped me to just accomplish a lot of my goals and move on from a lot of what was bothering me.

The more I thought about both of these, I started to realize that they are kind of related.  All of it had to do with one thing: knowing yourself.  I have certainly not always known myself.  But thats one of the great things about getting older.  You really start to figure out who you are.

I know my style.  I'm a southern girl.  I'm pretty girly and kind of preppy.  I like button downs, floral skirts, cardigans.  So sure, that bedazzled Juicy jumpsuit is probably really cute, but I know Stephanie, and that doesnt say her...

Same thing goes for my schedule.  I know that by the end of the day I'm gonna be really tired, so I better finish that load of laundry in the morning.  I also know that if I don't know what I have on tap for the entire day that I'm going to get really anxious.  As such, I better keep track of my day in my planner.

No matter who you are, what your style is, or how your day goes, learn yourself.  Its the best way to make things happen!  I'm leaving you guys with a few wise words about knowing ourselves.

xoxo